Reilly New Zealand & Australia

Today was a kick back day. We walked to a Cafe for breakfast and then walked to the St Monica's church built in 1967. It is famous for the 24 creation stained glass windows that depict the 7 days of creation. We continued walking to the famous Rusty,'s fruit stand. They are only open Thursday thru Saturday. It's an amazing display of produce.                              Reminded us of a market in Funchal Madeira.   Back to our room to cool off and have leftovers plus fruit for lunch. We took another afternoon walk on the esplanade. A wonderful breeze had arrived,  lowering the humidity. Afternoon coffees, souvenir shopping and a nap.  The Lagoon. Lifeguards and safe swimming                     Dinner at an Irish pub and a lovely night along the esplanade.  Cairns...a city of about 165,000. It was officially founded in 1876. During WW2 th...

 A full day. We were picked up at our hotel and taken to the Freshwater station of the Kuranda scenic railway,. We rode up through the rain forest for 23.5 miles. We stopped along the way to snap a picture of Baron Falls. Barron Falls Once at the top we were in Kuranda, a small village of 3000. We wandered the street, the heritage markets and had a coffee. We were scheduled to visit the Rain Nature Forestation. Our first activity was to ride a "Duck" for a trip through the jungle. Our guide told us about the plants. One of the palms had one way thorns on its vines and on the stem of the fronds. They were very sharp and could produce bad cuts. The local area, a national preserve is the oldest continuous rainforest in the world. We found it interesting that it could take 30 years for a fan palm to grow 4 inches high. Fan palm Following our ride, we enjoyed a BBQ, followed by a demo of a digeruroo and some local dancing by the Pamagirti Aborignies.  At the end, volunteers could ...

Today we were booked for a trip to the Great Barrier Reef. We walked to the wharf in the rain. We headed out of the bay to a parked platoon out in the reef. The water was VERY rough and I got sea sick. They were very kind and had offered us on the boat anti nausea pills prior to the journey. They were great helping any who were struggling.  Our day consisted of docking at their platoon, being able to snorkel in their designated area or one could choose to do scuba diving. Dennis getting ready to snorkel  By 1:00 the weather had improved. The sun broke out and the waves calmed.  The sun and the changing tides really made the coral reefs brighten.   The ride back into shore was delightful. We ended the night with a delightful Italian dinner.    And ice cream